Are Khomeinism and Social Liberalism the same thing?

Measured across six independent axes they are 31.4 apart out of a possible 49.0, which is opposite ends of the recorded space. They agree on no axis within three points. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, AU, ID, CH.

Atlas / Comparisons / Khomeinism vs Social Liberalism

Khomeinism and Social Liberalism

Measured distance across six axes

31.4 / 49.0 possible

Opposite ends of the recorded space. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, AU, ID, CH.

Axis by axis

Axis	Velayat-e faqih	Rawlsian liberalism	Gap		Reading
EC · Economic organisation	−03	+01	4	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
CU · Social and cultural order	+10	−06	16	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
AU · Organisation of power	+09	−06	15	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
SC · Scale of decision	+08	+02	6	Differs	Real difference, but not the dividing line.
ID · Rule of membership	+09	−07	16	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
CH · Method and tempo	+07	−07	14	Diverges	Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.

Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →

The evidence behind the widest gaps

A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.

Velayat-e faqih · CU +10

At the ceiling: compulsory dress, gender segregation and clerical authority over personal law.

Documented act or statuteThe 2022–23 protests followed a death in morality police custody and were met with mass arrests and executions.

Rawlsian liberalism · CU −06

Coded −6: equal basic liberties as lexically prior to everything else.

Programme textThe first principle of justice takes priority over the distributive one in Rawls's ordering.

Velayat-e faqih · AU +09

A genuine hybrid: real contested elections inside a hard unelected ceiling. Coded 9 rather than 10 for that reason.

Documented act or statuteThe Guardian Council vets all candidates and disqualified the majority of applicants in recent parliamentary cycles.
Documented act or statuteThe Supreme Leader is selected by an Assembly of Experts whose own candidates are vetted by the Guardian Council he appoints.

1 more artefact on the full entry →

Rawlsian liberalism · AU −06

Coded −6: entrenched rights and judicial review.

Programme textThe framework places basic liberties beyond ordinary majority revision.

What this comparison does not establish

Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.

Khomeinism

1979– · Iran

Guardianship of the jurist: sovereignty belongs to God and is exercised by a supreme clerical authority over an elected government.

Social Liberalism

1971– · Global North

Equal basic liberties first, then fair equality of opportunity, then inequalities only where they benefit the worst off.

Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.

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